Delivering transformational, high quality business and management education, The Open University Business School (OUBS) has a global reputation as a leading provider of qualifications, executive education and informal learning; supporting individuals and organisations through open access, digital and blended learning.
I have already recommended The Open University to many people because it is accessible to everyone, a quality I highly value, and provides an excellent education standard.
Mica FiedlerRead more
With 40 years’ experience, OUBS enables talented people to reach their full potential, and businesses to make the most of their staff. A truly international business school, we are rated ‘excellent’ (the highest possible rating) by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) for teaching and support, and are among the largest business schools in the world to be triple-accredited.
OUBS is one of an elite group to have earned AACSB, AMBA and EQUIS accreditation* – awarded by the world’s leading international management education associations to fewer than 1% of business schools globally.
*the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the Association of MBAs (AMBA) and EFMD Quality Improvement System (EQUIS).
We are the first school outside of the OU’s STEM faculty to achieve an Athena SWAN Bronze ‘departmental’ award (in November 2021). This followed our submission to Advance HE, the British professional membership scheme which promotes excellence in higher education. This internationally recognised gender equality charter acts as a catalyst for change and cultural transformation for staff and students.
It was initially established to encourage and recognise commitment to advancing the academic careers of women within STEM subjects but is now across all disciplines, professional and support staff and not just barriers that affect women, and also commits to considering the intersection of gender and other characteristics.
We are one of only five UK business schools to be a member of the Global Business School Network (GBSN) – a network of 120 business schools on six continents working to strengthen management education in the developing world. The goal of GBSN is to implement capacity building programmes that advance management education, creating long-term impact on development.
Since 2011, we have also taken an active role and are an Communicating Signatory to the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME). This is a United Nations-supported initiative founded in 2007 as a platform to raise the profile of sustainability in schools around the world, and to equip today's business students with the understanding and ability to deliver change tomorrow.
We work with a number of influential professional bodies and international partners to ensure that our curriculum meets the needs of students and employers in the UK and worldwide.
The Open University and the BBC co-produce a number of programmes every year to support courses, and to inform and entertain the public.
Financial Times Online MBA Rankings
We recognise the value that is placed on rankings as a way of understanding the merits of different MBAs, and participated in the Financial Times (FT) online MBA ranking when it was launched in 2014 and placed 13th. However, after reviewing the methodology, we felt that the current criteria does not allow us to fully reflect the quality of our supported online and practice-based learning experience. For this reason, we have not particpated since.